Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 289 The Witch Su Wan
This day was long for everyone.

In the early hours of the morning, following the strange parchment rules, the Warrens focused their examination on the crow specimen mentioned in rule number two.

The specimen was placed in a glass case and appeared normal; there were no "new specimens" mentioned in the rules. But this feeling of searching for something without finding anything was more unsettling than anything else.

Next, they arrived at the basement where Ms. Walker committed suicide, a place repeatedly mentioned in the rules and the source of the applause that the Perrin family encountered.

Ed and Drew set up basic video and audio recording equipment inside, hoping to capture evidence of paranormal phenomena.

Several brief shooting attempts failed to yield any clear images.

After Ed and Rowling had compiled all the information about the house, their expressions were quite solemn.

Rowling has discovered that the house was originally built in 1863 by a man named Jedson Sherman. He married a woman named Basshiba, who was a descendant of Mary Tom Esther.

What's truly horrifying is that after Basshiba gave birth to a child, she threw him into the fireplace just seven days after his birth and watched him burn alive!
This was merely a sacrifice to Satan! This is a truly inhuman demon!

Then, Basshiba went to a tree outside the door and hanged himself there as a sign of his worship of Satan. The declared time of death was 3:07 AM!
In the 1930s, a woman named Walker also lived in this house. She had a son named Rory who mysteriously disappeared in the nearby forest. After that, Walker hanged herself in the basement.

Afterwards, the children of the farmers who divided up the farmland drowned in the lake near their homes, and a nearby maid also mysteriously committed suicide. Ed believed this was Basshiba's revenge against those who took her house.

However, a chilling thing happened. On Halloween, Ed, Warren, and Caroline's conversation was recorded. But when the recording was played back for the first time, Caroline's voice was completely inaudible.

Then, at 3:07 AM, the tape recorder started playing automatically! At this point, Caroline's voice became extremely distorted and bizarre, as if interfered with and altered by some inhuman force, turning into a sinister shriek and a woman's scream!
Blood Lord's eyes narrowed, and he whispered to Jiang Jin, "Did you hear that? Her voice is corrupted... This is a sign of possession. The evil spirit has begun to try to erode her self-awareness and sense of existence. According to the rules of this world, if her mental defenses completely collapse, her body may be taken over."

When local police officer Brad, who came to assist, heard about the incident, he scoffed at it, saying, "Perhaps it's equipment malfunction. I think we should be more concerned about whether there was sabotage or some undiscovered natural cause."

He was a staunch atheist and remained skeptical of the supernatural.

During the day, not only inside the house, but also in front of the tree by the door, cameras were set up. Ed had installed a thermostat; it would automatically take pictures if the temperature suddenly dropped. As a paranormal expert, Ed was already adept at handling such matters.

Inside the house, Rowling said she seemed to sense something. She walked to Su Wan's side, lowered her voice, and said with a hint of worry, "Miss Su, please forgive my intrusion... I seem to... see something... dark and ominous entwined around you..."

Su Wan, as a Level 2 witch puppeteer, deals with all sorts of evil forces. She didn't take Rowling's warning, which was based on her innate medium intuition, seriously at all, nor did she think that Rowling had figured out that she had stolen the Annabelle doll.

She retorted coldly, "Teacher's wife, mind your own business and your fragile senses. The 'darkness' within me is none of your concern."

Her tone carried the arrogance and aloofness characteristic of a priestess, leaving Rowling speechless for a moment, and she could only walk away helplessly.

Then, Blood Lord's memories began to clear. If the plot did not change too much, there should not be any more intense supernatural events today, which gave them a buffer period.

As Blood Lord passed by Caroline's room, he saw her holding a family photo and chatting intimately with her. Blood Lord recalled that, according to the movie plot, when Caroline was possessed by the evil witch and was about to lose herself, she finally defeated the evil spirit by relying on the happy memories of this family photo, sending it back to hell.

However, the true meme contamination is unprecedentedly powerful. Humanity's yearning for love and light cannot overcome evil spirits; only the curse itself can defeat a curse. The Blood Lord now vaguely realizes that the evil spirits in the original film have likely been greatly amplified by the meme contamination itself, and unlike in the original film, the seven members of the Perrin family will no longer go unslaughtered.

Meanwhile, Jiang Jin was pondering a way to break the deadlock. According to the Blood Lord's memories, the moment the evil spirit was marked would arrive tomorrow. He only had that one moment to weaken the evil spirit. Of course, the Blood Lord would also make his move at that time.

“I plan to go to Salem again,” Jiang Jin said to Blood Lord. “There’s an exorcism weapon hidden in Salem from the time of the witch hunts. If we can find it, it should be crucial in dealing with the witch’s evil spirit in this house.”

At this moment, Su Wan suddenly walked over from the side and volunteered: "Deputy Regiment Commander Jiang, let me go with you."

Jiang Jin looked at her with some surprise. Su Wan was a member of the Dawn team, and according to Blood Lord, she might not be friendly to him.

Su Wan seemed to sense his doubts and explained calmly, "Don't overthink it. In any case, Commander Yu and Miss Xu Yinqiu used to be with Chenxi, and they have some past relationship with my master. The situation within Chenxi is complicated right now. If we can take this opportunity to ease the tension with Nirvana, or at least build some trust, it won't be bad for my master or Chenxi. Helping you is also helping ourselves."

The reason sounded reasonable, but Jiang Jin remained wary of the profession of witch, especially after encountering a woman like Xia Yu. He couldn't completely trust Su Wan's words.

The Blood Lord beside him was even more direct. His icy gaze locked onto Su Wan, and the oppressive aura of a near-LV3 powerhouse was released without any concealment, making the surrounding air seem to freeze: "Su Wan, I don't care what your reasons are. Remember, if anything happens to Jiang Jin, and you are the only one who comes back... no matter what the cause of his death was, I will kill you. I never care... whether it's killing an innocent person or not."

The raw killing intent made Su Wan gasp for breath, her face paling slightly. She could sense that the Blood Lord was serious.

She took a deep breath and nodded: "I understand. I will come back with him."

Jiang Jin looked at the Blood Lord, his feelings a mix of emotions. Although he knew the Blood Lord was helping him out of self-interest, he was still somewhat moved.

Afterwards, Jiang Jin and Su Wan did not delay and immediately drove to Salem.

The atmosphere in the car was somewhat silent.

Jiang Jin tentatively probed Su Wan: "Miss Su, I didn't expect you to offer your help. How is the Morning Light team doing now?"

He also knew that Yu Tianlun, though he didn't say it, still cared about Chenxi to some extent. He himself had chosen the name of the team, Chenxi, which symbolized the beautiful yearning for dawn to break through the darkness.

Looking at the fleeting scenery outside the window, Su Wan's tone was unreadable: "It's not exactly good. There are some internal... disagreements. My master, Su Yuan, has always hoped that Commander Yu could reconcile with her, or at least that Nirvana and Dawn could become solid allies, instead of remaining distant like they are now. Unfortunately..." She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear.

Jiang Jin thought to himself, "The Dawn team is indeed unstable." But he remained skeptical of Su Wan's words. The witch profession excels at manipulating people's hearts and casting curses; no one knew whether her seemingly honest words concealed ulterior motives. The impression Xia Yu, that ruthless witch, had left on him was too profound.

As the vehicle ventured deeper into Salem, that familiar, unsettling feeling returned.

An invisible resentment and curse seemed to permeate the air, and low, evil murmurs began to echo on the edge of consciousness.

Deathstroke, lying on the back seat of the car, became extremely agitated again, constantly letting out low growls. His body, made of ash, was tense, staring intently out the window.

As an undead creature, it is exceptionally sensitive to this pure, ancient evil.

Su Wan also began to frown.

She could clearly sense the dark will that had settled in this land, filled with resentment, revenge, and a twisted sense of terror, which resonated with her power yet also repelled it.

suddenly!

The car made an ominous noise, the engine suddenly stalled, and it broke down completely on the desolate road leading deep into the town.

"What's going on?" Jiang Jin tried to restart, but there was no response.

“It’s something here that doesn’t want us to drive in,” Su Wan said calmly. She could feel an invisible force interfering with the mechanical operation of the material layer.

The two exchanged a glance, knowing they had no choice but to proceed on foot. They gathered their equipment and disembarked. Deathstroke followed closely at Jiang Jin's feet, vigilantly surveying their surroundings.

The further into the town you go, the more eerie the environment becomes.

A large number of crows had gathered in the sky at some unknown time. They perched on withered tree branches and dilapidated rooftops, silently watching the two uninvited guests with their scarlet eyes, as if waiting for something.

The malicious whispers and warnings grew clearer and clearer, like cold needles constantly stimulating their nerves, making them deeply aware of an absolute and pure dark will.

Just then, Su Wan suddenly asked out of the blue, "Deputy Commander Jiang, what is your relationship with Ye Xiao?"

Jiang Jin's heart skipped a beat. It seemed she really hadn't recognized the other party as Blood Lord. So he cautiously replied, "In a way... we're allies."

He was unwilling to say more.

Su Wan nodded, seemingly unsurprised, then said in a slightly complicated tone, "Vice Commander Jiang, you're quite the celebrity in Muxu City now. Not only are all the major teams paying attention to you, but even the Yanjing court... it seems some people are starting to notice you. After all, the hunter profession itself is prone to producing talented individuals. Commander Zhuge Yu back then and Minister Long Mingzhang now are both hunters."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jin could only smile bitterly: A prominent figure? If he couldn't overcome the death calamity of "The Ring," then no matter how great his reputation, it would be nothing but fleeting smoke, destined to become a vengeful ghost in a deadly videotape... How could he possibly be qualified to be compared to Commander Zhuge?

“Miss Su, how could I possibly compare to a hero like Commander Zhuge? He sacrificed himself to protect Muxu City…”

"Huh?" Su Wan was taken aback and said, "Who told you that Commander Zhuge sacrificed himself to protect Muxu City?"

"Huh? Isn't it?"

"Of course not. But it's ironic, really. Commander Zhuge survived that memetic contamination, but it was precisely because of their 'success' that most of the terrifying memetic contamination remained firmly sealed inside Muxu City. The imperial court further strengthened the blockade of Muxu, turning it into a completely isolated 'island.' The internal economic environment continued to deteriorate, unemployment soared, and because they couldn't escape, more people were passively turned into reincarnators under despair and high pressure, struggling to survive in the internal contamination..."

"So, those who survived, those who struggled in the hellish environment of Muxu City, began to hate Zhuge Yu. They believed that if he hadn't 'meddled,' perhaps the pollution would have spread, the blockade would have been lifted, and they could have left this hellhole... at least, they wouldn't have had to bear it all alone." Su Wan's tone carried a cold indifference that seemed to have seen through the ways of the world. "Ultimately, this resentment erupted in the most tragic way—Zhuge Yu was brutally murdered by his most trusted deputy, who is now the leader of the old nuclear organization, Chang Wuyong. A great hero, ending up like this..."

After recounting this heavy history, Su Wan looked at Jiang Jin, who was deep in thought, and her tone returned to calm, but with a completely different stance: "But I'm different from them. I'm not a native of Muxu City, I'm from Pengcheng. If the pollution had spread back then, Pengcheng would definitely have been the first area to fall. Think about it, if that had happened, back then I was just an ordinary middle school student, and I would most likely have become a Reincarnator in the first wave of impact, or more likely... I would have died directly in some inexplicable meme event and wouldn't be alive today."

Jiang Jin fell completely silent. Su Wan's words revealed another side of that long-buried history to him: the sacrifices and infamy of the heroes, the hatred of the beneficiaries and the complex feelings of the bystanders, and the fates of countless individuals involved in that disaster…

All of this gave him a deeper understanding of the city's past and the heavy burden that came with being a reincarnator. The legend of the Light Wheel team was no longer just a few lines in the archives, but a tragic epic filled with blood and tears, glory and betrayal.

Finally, he could only suppress these feelings and stare sharply into the depths of Salem, shrouded in darkness and crows.

The location indicated by the treasure map was in that ominous silence...

After walking a few more steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Su Wan.

"I remember... what was Chang Wuyong's profession?"

“A priest,” Su Wan replied with a tone of disgust. “He is currently a near-LV5, a Swift Walker.”

At this moment, Jiang Jin remembered the LV5 class name of the priest profession: False God!
(End of this chapter)